Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have recently had to deal with a hot seat: Mercedes is looking for explanations and has a few approaches
What kind of problem does Mercedes have with its seat? In the past few races, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had repeatedly complained about the temperatures in their cockpits being too hot. In particular, the seat became too warm for both drivers during the race, making it feel almost like a sauna.
It was noticeable that it occurred mainly in Monza or Baku, where long straights are an important part of the track. On straights, the cars, which already have to be very low to the ground due to the ground effect, are sucked even closer to the asphalt.
“And every time we touch with the underbody, the heat comes,” Mercedes communications director Bradley Lord tries to explain on ORF. And since the straights are quite long, the problem persists for a long time and builds up. ‘We believe that this is the cause,’ he says.
But Mercedes has not yet fully understood the problem: “It’s not that easy to answer, because we don’t understand all the factors that are involved,” Lord continues. “Because there is also electronics under the seat and other things that can play a role.”
This thesis is also supported by senior race engineer Andrew Shovlin. He says that a lot of heat is generated by the engine alone, which they try to dissipate. “And you have a lot of electronic boxes that also work hard and generate their own heat,” says Shovlin. “And you try to get that out of the car.”
When you add to that the heat generated by the friction of the plank on the road, “then it all starts to conduct through the underbody of the car and into the driver’s seat,” he says.
On top of that, it was quite hot at Monza, with temperatures of 33 to 34 degrees Celsius. That meant that it could not get any cooler. “There are numerous heat sources that drive up the temperature, so that the cockpit rises well above the driver’s body temperature and it is very difficult for him to cool down,” Shovlin continues.
“But it could also be related to a change in the air flow,” adds Lord, ‘because the aero packages in Monza or Baku are different from most of the others during the year.’
So there are likely to be many factors that contribute to the Silver Arrows’ sauna problem. ‘It’s not easy to figure out what it is,’ says Lord.
However, Mercedes has also been looking for solutions in recent weeks to make the situation more comfortable for the drivers, “and within the sport, we are also looking at ways to equip the car with additional equipment for these extraordinary races to keep the drivers a little cooler,” says Shovlin.
The FIA had announced in July that it wanted to try out a new ventilation system for hot races.